chapter 4
Dusk fell, and the city lights began to glow.
The Ningan Marquis and his son had just returned from court when Liu Shi and the Marquise, anxious and flustered, hurriedly ushered them into the inner chamber.
I stood quietly beneath the corridor outside the courtyard, the night breeze carrying the muffled yet intense quarrel from within.
Xiao Yu’s voice, tinged with shock and panic, rang out first:
“Father! Didn’t you insist back then that she had absolutely no chance of surviving? Now this… what on earth is going on? And her aura, her gaze-they’re nothing like before!”
“Silence!” The Ningan Marquis’s reprimand was heavy as thunder, laced with the anger of being questioned.
“I saw it with my own eyes! Seven arrows, straight through the heart! Her body was riddled with wounds, her breath ceased- even the Great Luo Golden Immortal descending to earth couldn’t have saved her! How could a dead person possibly…”
His words were cut off by Liu Shi’s sobbing complaint:
“Father, Cousin, you must stand up for us! Today she actually tried to take Ruier away! She used such sinister means to frighten the child-she clearly wants Ruier’s life!”
The Marquise’s cold, sharp voice interjected:
“Why is everyone panicking? What matters most now is to figure out what exactly this… thing that returned is!”
The night deepened, and the lamplight spilling from the window stretched their arguing silhouettes into twisted shapes.
The Ningan Marquis slammed the table suddenly, the dull sound silencing all the commotion.
“Fools!” His voice was low, yet carried immense weight. “Is this the time to fuss over such trivial details?!”
His gaze swept over everyone like a hawk, finally settling on Xiao Yu’s face, each word landing with force:
“Don’t forget, our Qionger is now the Imperial Consort, and it’s true the Emperor’s favor is strong. But beneath this overwhelming fortune, how many eyes are watching us? In the court, how many Censors and officials would love nothing more than to tear a piece from us!”
His chest heaved slightly, a flash of cunning and severity in his eyes:
“Do not lose your composure! I fear… this is no haunting by a wandering ghost, but a carefully laid trap! It might even be the work of the Eastern Palace-”
His voice dropped lower, almost squeezed through clenched teeth.
“The Crown Prince has always been at odds with us. If he found a woman who closely resembles her and deliberately sent her to stir up trouble, to seize our weaknesses, that would be true disaster!”
The room fell instantly silent, even Liu Shi’s sobs abruptly ceased.
The candle flame crackled loudly, casting shifting shadows across each face, all marked by shock and deep apprehension.
Standing beneath the cold moonlight, I slowly raised my hand, fingertip lightly touching the center of my brow.
My skin rippled like water, silently parting to either side.
A perfectly round eyeball slowly separated from within, floating in the air, bathed in the cool moonlight.
Pale sclera, a dark pupil, and web-like crimson veins pulsed faintly within.
It rotated in silence, finally fixing its “gaze” on me, reflecting my blurred outline.
I nodded slightly to this eye that belonged to Waner, my voice low as a sigh, yet carrying undeniable authority:
“Go.”